Frederick Wilkinson

“ In many cases, also, yarn is specially required to be spun upon the bare spindle as on a mule, as for instance when used as weft and put into the shuttle of a loom. It is probably the very greatest defect of the ring frame that it can only, with great difficulty, be made to form a good cop of yarn on the bare spindle, although thousands of pounds have been spent on experimenting in that direction. How soon it may be accomplished with commercial success cannot be known, as a great number of individuals are constantly working in that direction. ”

“ It is rather singular that he should be about the only one of the cotton-machinery inventors of this age who amassed a fortune; most of the others being but slightly removed from want in their last days.
There were many who claimed that they were the real and original inventors of this method of spinning by rollers, but there can be no doubt that to Arkwright alone belongs the credit for bringing these improvements to a higher state of perfection than they ever attained before.
At the present time, roller drawing is the great basis of the operations of modern spinning, wherever performed. ”

“ Sudden changes in the temperature, and variations in the amount of moisture, certainly act deleteriously upon the plant, especially during the period in which the young one is growing. There is a great difference between a wet soil and a moist one, and there is perhaps nothing so much dreaded by the planters as a sodden soil. Up to the end of July the soil should be continuously and uniformly moist, and it would appear that, provided this condition is satisfied, there is every likelihood of a heavy crop resulting, if the temperature has been anything like suitable. ”

“ Of all the injurious agents most dreaded in the cotton-growing districts of the globe, none are so widely spread or so disastrous as "insect pests."
They attack different parts of the plant during its growth, and when the bolls are formed they commit great havoc among these by boring through and completely ruining the immature fibre. Then again, while the plant is young, they may attack the most tender portion of the plant, viz., the new and young leaves found at or near the top. ”

“ The Cotton plant most readily responds to any changes of climate, methods of cultivation, change of soil or of fertilizers. So that it is easy to understand in a plant so susceptible and prone to vary as is the cotton, that new species may in a few years be brought into existence, and especially by means of proper selection of the seed, and careful cultivation. ”

“ The self-actor mule is an intermittent spinning machine, i.e., it is not continuous in action, as are most machines used in the making of thread or yarn from the fibrous product of the Cotton plant. Take for instance the Carding Engine, and the bobbin and fly frames, as previously described. So long as these machines are working, practically all of the acting parts of the mechanism have a continuous forward motion. ”

“ Tree Cotton and Herbaceous Cotton are both cultivated in Brazil. The best kinds of Sea Islands have been tried, but have not succeeded.
Compared with the United States, the methods of cultivation pursued in Brazil are exceedingly primitive and irregular. No such thing as ploughing or preparing of the soil is adopted.
The only preparation seems to be to rid the land of cotton stumps, and this is done in a somewhat careless and indifferent manner. It would seem that as little labour as possible is expended [Pg 48] upon the land in preparing it for the reception of seed. ”

“ CHAPTER VII. EARLY ATTEMPTS AT SPINNING, AND EARLY INVENTORS.
There can be no better illustration of the truth of the old saying, that "Necessity is the mother of invention," than to read the early history of the cotton manufacture, and the difficulties under which the pioneers of England's greatest industry laboured.
The middle years of the eighteenth century act as the watershed between the old and the new in cotton manufacture, for up to 1760 the same type [Pg 113] of machinery was found in England which had existed in India for centuries. ”

“ But a change was coming, and as a greater demand arose for cotton goods, it became absolutely necessary to discover some better way of manipulating cotton, in order to get off a greater production.
"When inventors fail in their projects, no one pities them; when they succeed, persecution, envy, and jealousy are their reward." ”

“ As a matter of fact, the unpractised eye cannot see any difference between the sliver or soft rope of cotton as it reaches, the drawing frame and as it leaves the frame.
The experienced eye of the practical man can, however, detect a wonderful difference.
It has been shown that the immediately preceding operation of carding—amongst other things—reduces the heavy lap into a comparatively thin light sliver; thus advancing with one great stride a long way toward the production of the long fine thread of yarn ready for the market. ”

“ The process of taking the longer fibre from the seed must be very carefully watched, as it becomes a troublesome matter to remove the shorter fibre when once it has come away from the seed with the longer. Hence great care should be taken in gathering this class of cotton. Another point which should not be lost sight of is, that the herbaceous type of Cotton plant readily hybridises with some other varieties and the result is a strain of much better quality. ”

“ As regards twisting of the roving it must be distinctly understood that when the attenuated strand of cotton issues from the rollers of the first bobbin and fly frame, it has become so thin and weak that it can no longer withstand the requisite handling without being seriously damaged. Hence the introduction of "Twist," which is by far the most important strength-producing factor or principle entering into the composition of cotton roving and yarn. ”

“ There is therefore no reason to question the statement which has repeatedly been made, that at least three centres are known in which the Cotton plant from very early times has been indigenous, and that the peoples of these countries were well acquainted with the property and uses of the cotton wool obtained from the plant. An average of more than 1,000,000 bales, each weighing 500 lbs., are exported from Egypt every year, and the question has been raised whether the cultivation of the plant in Egypt can be said to date far back. ”

“ Yet, in spite of these deficiencies, good crops are raised in many districts, capital soil and a most equable climate making up for the shortcomings of the planter. The formation of the Transcaspian Railway cannot but have an important influence upon the cotton-growing industry in Turkestan, running as it does through the very heart of the best land in the country. It should be noted that Bohkara annually produces over 50,000,000 pounds of cotton of the herbaceous type, and Khiva, another district lying still further east of those already mentioned, over 20,000,000 pounds. ”

“ Certainly, from a climatic point of view, this country is exceptionally well favoured, an equable and suitable temperature together with an adequate supply of earth and air, moisture and rich alluvial soils, a long dry season for picking extending over many weeks—all point to an ideal cotton-growing area. In fact, there is no reason why a crop of at least 40,000,000 bales should not be obtained annually in Brazil, if needed. ”

“ Sewing Thread.—A very large quantity of spun yarn is subsequently made into sewing thread. It is a fact well known to practical men that we have no means in cotton spinning by which a thread can be spun directly of sufficient strength to be used as sewing thread. For instance, suppose we wanted a 12's sewing thread, i.e., a thread containing 12 hanks in one pound of yarn; it would be practically impossible to spin a thread sufficiently good to meet the requirements of the case. ”

“ Every other American type of cotton gives a greater percentage of lint than the Sea Islands cotton, though it should be stated that the price per pound is greater than any other kind of cotton grown in the States. There are from six to nine seeds in each capsule and the prevailing colour is black. A cotton grown in Egypt and known by the name Gallini is of the Sea Islands type and has been produced from seed of the G. Barbadense. It should be added that the colour of the flower is yellow and that in India this plant is known by the name of Bourbon Cotton. ”

“ The opener, then, is a very powerful machine, being in fact the most powerful used in cotton spinning, and the most important feature of the machine is the employment of a strong beater, to which is fitted a large number of iron or steel knives or spikes. These beat down the cotton and open it at a terrific rate, the beater having a surface speed of perhaps 4000 feet a minute. Various fans, rollers, and other parts are employed to feed the cotton to the beater, and to take it away again after treatment. ”

“ All the time the spindles are quickly revolving and putting twist into the rovings, thus imparting strength to them to a far greater degree than at any previous stage. Often the carriage is made to recede from the rollers a little quicker than the latter, the difference in the surface speeds between the two being technically known as "gain." The object of this carriage "gain" is to improve the "evenness" of the yarn by drawing out any thick soft places there may be in the length of thread between each spindle and the roller, a distance of 64 inches. ”

“ As is well known, the great principle of drawing rollers is, that the cotton is passed through three or four pairs of rollers in quick succession, and attenuated by each pair in turn, each pair being made to revolve more quickly than the preceding pair. This identical process is repeated in machine after machine, until finally the bulk of cotton is reduced to a fine thread, of which, in some cases, it takes two or three hundred miles to weigh one pound. ”

“ Cotton-growing in China.—Owing to the great difficulty of obtaining any reliable statistical information, it is impossible to give anything approaching accuracy as to number of pounds of cotton produced annually, or number of acres devoted to the cultivation of the Cotton plant. This much, however, is known, that for many centuries cotton cultivating has been followed and that there has been within recent years a great increase in the weight of the cotton crop as well as in the acreage. ”

“ He was not what one might call a brilliant man or great inventor, but he had the happy knack of appreciating and seizing upon what he knew was a good thing, and set about instantly to get all out of it that he could, and there are those who strongly affirm that he often got much more than he was entitled to. ”

“ The cotton that passes over the top of the inclined lattice or apron is stripped off by what is denominated the stripping roller, and is then deposited on the feed apron of the opener, where formerly it was placed by hand.
It may be said that one man can feed two machines with Hopper Feeds as against one without them, and in the best makes the work is done more effectively.
The feed lattice of the opener carries the cotton along to the feed rollers, which project it forward into the path of the large beater. It is here that the opening and cleaning actions are chiefly performed. ”

“ Lyman, in his book on the Cotton Culture in the States, says: "It seems like very easy work to gather a material which shows itself in such abundance as fairly to whiten the field, but let the sceptic or the grumbler take a bag on his shoulders and start in between a couple of rows. He will find upon taking hold of the first boll that the fibres are quite firmly attached to the interior lining of the pod, and if he makes a quick snatch, thinking to gather the entire lock, he will only tear it in two, or leave considerable adhering to the pod. ”

“ The joint action, then, of bobbin, traveller and fixed ring, is to put the necessary twist in the yarn which gives it its proper degree of strength. If no fresh roving from the rollers were issuing for the moment, the small portion of thread reaching from the [Pg 165] rollers to the bobbins would simply be twisted without any "winding-on" taking place. As a matter of fact, the roving always is issuing from the rollers, and "winding-on" of the twisted roving is performed by the traveller lagging behind the bobbin in speed, to a degree equal to the delivery of roving by the rollers. ”

“ Hence on large farms there will be something like uniform quality of cotton produced. It will, however, be clear to the general reader that on the small farms of India, say where sufficient cannot be gathered on one farm, or perhaps on a few farms, to make one bale, there will not be that uniformity which is desirable, hence Indian cotton, especially of the poorer types, varies a great deal more than the American varieties. ”

“ Egypt enjoys many advantages over her competitors across the Atlantic. In the first place, she can get almost twice as much cotton from the acre, so productive is the soil. Labour is cheaper, and the plant itself when young is not subject to the devastating frosts so often met with in America. ”